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Tomehane! by KAWAI Katsutoshi

A story about a high school calligraphy club on the verge of breaking up that enters in a major competition while overcoming problems. Yuki, a promising female judoist, and Yukari, a quiet Canadian-raised boy who just returned to Japan, end up joining the club for the sake of maintaining the membership required to keep the club. Together with the old club members with unique characters, they gradually discover the fun of calligraphy and work together to win in the competition. -- NHK
I've been waiting for someone to translate this for ages. When chapter 1 came out earlier this week I was not disappointed. Tomehane! school life series with funny, quirky characters, great humor, and subtle writing. Fans of Genshiken or Kuragehime will really enjoy this. There aren't any Otaku but the writing has similar wit and subtlety. I'm looking forward to more!
Chapter 2 did not disappoint. I love how Miwa-chan black mailed the judo club
She and Kamo-chan are perfect comic relief. Mochizuki was formally introduced, she has potential as the female lead. I loved how terrified she was that Oe-kun "hated" her. Can't wait for chapter 3!
Finished volume one. Tomehane really isn't anything fancy but it really is turning into one of my favorite series. The end of the volume introduces Hina's "evil" twin sister, who is almost as awesomely bitchy as Kamo and Miwa-chan. Kamo-chan getting sexually harassed by the judge was one of my favorite parts. I'm looking forward to volume 2!

Out of curiosity: Is anyone else at MH reading it? If so, any thoughts?

Last edited by Kaiten; September 16, 2011 at 07:55 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost

Re: Tomehane! by KAWAI Katsutoshi

I reading this too.
I talking too much can be spoiler, so I will just post my impression.
The manga itself is interesting on how much it gives knowledge on shodo/calligraphy. My problem with calligraphy is how it's hard to read but this manga give new light so I can give appreciation on them.
Even though it is not the main part of the story, I also enjoy the love romance part in the manga. As long as it is not too much.

Re: Tomehane! by KAWAI Katsutoshi

It's kind of hard to recreate calligraphy in a manga but the slice of life, character driven side of the story is incredible. All of the characters are memorable, well written and easy to relate to. Calligraphy jargon is well explained, chapters heavy in calligraphy are never boring or hard to understand.

Re: Tomehane! by KAWAI Katsutoshi

Compared to the character's story (slice of life, romance etc), I like it more when the chapter heavily about calligraphy. Whether it's hard to understand or not, I think it depends. Long explanation with lots of dialogue boxes with technical terms can somewhat confusing. Sometimes I just skipped it or reading it 2-3 times to really understand.
One thing for sure is, calligraphy is really hard to read. Without reading the explanation given on what the words written, I can only guess small part of it. Even in the hiragana arc (where hiragana supposed to be easily read), I can't read it well, and the usage of old Japanese in the calligraphy works doesn't help either.
It did give more trivia knowledge for me, though lol

Re: Tomehane! by KAWAI Katsutoshi

Some of the early chapters where they explained the different types of calligraphy and history were a little slow, in my opinion. The chapters where they were practicing or attempting pieces of there own were very good. So were the competition and street preference chapters.

Doesn't really like the romance part, the judo girl has another love interest, but getting angry when another girl approached Oe-kun. I don't like that type of girl, really.
And my favorite character is the Kyoto girl, too bad she's interested on other guy who's in love with judo girl, and judo girl also interested on him (mutual?).

Doesn't really like the romance part, the judo girl has another love interest, but getting angry when another girl approached Oe-kun. I don't like that type of girl, really.
And my favorite character is the Kyoto girl, too bad she's interested on other guy who's in love with judo girl, and judo girl also interested on him (mutual?).

Chapter 27 is the latest. Scanlations have been coming really fast, about a volume a month. I'm behind the scanlators, I'm still reading volume 2 but planning on catching up today.

Re: Tomehane! by KAWAI Katsutoshi

i read this 1 out of curiosity because kaiten wrote about this on the shounen hangout and i must have to say i learned something about far eastern-calligraphy.before this series only other calligraphy based manga i read was barakamon and it is more about comedy and less about the actual calligraphy. i liked the story but not many of the characters if i must say so. also most of the comedic situations seems flat. thou it has its unique charm to make you keep reading.